The Bab: Execution or Martyrdom?

MOHAMMED REZA ISFAHANI

The article on the violent history of the Babis adequately displays the blood-thirsty nature of the Babis. The Babis looked upon Muslims who did not accept their faith as unclean and thought that they could be put to death for not believing in the Bab. The uncle of Qurratul Ayn, Mulla Mohamed Taqi was murdered for issuing an edict against the beliefs of Shaykh Ahmed Ahsai (Ref: Nuqtatul Kaf, page 142). Sayyed Yahya Darabi is reported by Mirza Jani, to have expressed the view that he would kill his father with his own hand if he did not accept the Bab. Anyone who reads Mirza Jani history - Nuqtatul Kaf, which incidentally is the first history to be written about the Babi movement - will see that instead of love and forgiveness, the hearts of the Babis were full of hatred even for innocent men who did not accept their Faith.

Secondly, the Babi movement rose again and again in war against the government. The incidents at Tabriz, Zanjan and Niriz are testimony to that.

Thirdly, the Babi movement was impatient to establish by force that the Bab was the promised Mahdi. They were misled in believing that God would help the Bab - however that was not to be - in each and every rebellion, they were crushed with no sign of divine help offered to them. This is in stark contrast to the words of the Bab who promised his followers that ten of them would overcome a thousand. Not only was the government faced with a serious law and order problem but even ordinary people feared the Babis and their blood-thirsty nature.

It was under these circumstances that the government gave the order for the execution of the Bab. The Bab having moved from Mahku to Chirik where he renewed his heretic writings. One can refer to Lauhe\' Haykal written 14 days prior to his execution wherein forget about the Mahdi, Bab claimed to be God. Bab probably anticipated his death for he took steps to appoint his successor - Mirza Yahya Noori or Subhe\' Azal. He sent to him his writing material, clothing, seal and sundry articles, and wrote a will appointing him as his successor and asked him to write the eight parts (or Wahids) of the Bayan - his book of laws which he could not complete.
(Ref: Nuqtatul Kaf, page 244, Taarikhe\' Jadid, page 381)

Readers may note that his itself is a unique aspect of the Babi Faith which is not emulated anywhere - his scriptures were incomplete at the time of his death.

As regards to the incident of the death of the Bab, much as they would like to dramatize the event and project Bab as a martyr, the author of Nuqtatul Kaf has reported otherwise.

Pay attention to these words of Mirza Jani:

In short, on the night, the morrow, of which was the day of the martyrdom of the Bab, he said to his companions, \"They would make me a martyr on the morrow in the utmost dishonor. So let one of you come forward to give me martyrdom, so that I may not meet with disgrace at the hands of the enemy, for to be killed by a friend is preferable to me than being killed by the enemy.
(Ref: Nuqtatul Kaf, page 245, Traveller\'s Narrative, page 320)

However even this desire was not to be fulfilled, for his friends refused to perform the suicidal rites. Then he made the last bequest to his friends, \"O friends, when they question you tomorrow about my truth, make a false statement (Taqaiyyah) and deny and curse me, for such is the commandment to you.\"
(Ref: Nuqtatul Kaf, page 245, Traveler\'s Narrative, page 321)

Mulla Mohammed Ali was the other person who was executed along with the Bab. When the smoke from the guns cleared, Mirza Mohammed Ali was not there. The bullet instead of hitting his body, hit the rope from which he was hung. Mirza Mohammed Ali fled to a closet from where he was brought again. Mirza Jani asserts that the escape was due to fact that The Bab was not willing to be killed and therefore could not be killed. But willing or unwilling, he had to submit to the process a second time and this time, he was killed.

Upon seeing the Bab\'s body being riddled with bullets, the Russian consul burst into tears. This exposes the Russian connection in this conspiracy. The corpse of the Bab was left in a ditch for the wild animals to feed on. The Russian consul took photographs of this to send to his government, as reported in \'Al Kawakib Ad-Durriyah Fi Tarikh Al Babiyah Wa Al Bahaiyah\', printed in Cairo in 1343 AH. The date of Bab\'s execution was 28th Shaaban, 1266 AH (1850 AD).

The Emperor of Russia (incidentally a communist country whose residents do not believe in God, leave alone the representatives of God) sent a message to the Consul at Tabriz asking him to fully investigate and report the circumstances of the death of the Bab. The Russian Consul called Sayyed Mohammed Hussein, who was released at Tabriz and asked about the signs and the circumstances of the Bab.
(Ref: Taarikhe\' Jadid, page 402)

Perhaps the Baha’i forget that seeking death at the hands of friends is not martyrdom but suicide. If this happened in present days, the Bab would have been arrested for attempted suicide and his colleagues for abetting the suicide. Despite the fact that the Bab was ultimately killed by his enemies - none should forget that he did not wish to die this way. He wanted to die at the hands of his friends. He simply did not have a choice in this matter. The Bab wanted to commit suicide and not martyrdom. The Baha’is should highlight this fact while describing the so-called \"martyrdom\" of the Bab.

Also, in an earlier article, I mentioned how the Baha’is recollect the dream of the Bab in which he drank the blood of Imam Hussein (as) with pride. Bahais seem to forget that there s no parallel between Imam Hussein (as) and The Bab. The Imam sought martyrdom over humiliation while the Bab sought humiliation over martyrdom.

Thus comes to a close the series on The Bab - a founder who was averse to receive death at the hands of the very forces he had come to defeat; he or his teachings led to insurrections which led to the death of thousands of innocents, besides failing miserably; he was fully conscious that his objective was not fulfilled; his misery amply displayed when he asked his friends to kill him on the eve of his death.

To conclude, the Bayanic system never became a reality. No king ever adopted the Babi faith and used his authority to propagate it, and no nation ever attempted to order the life of its people in accordance with the laws of the Bayan.

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